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I’ve been playing around with the Content-Aware Move tool in Photoshop CS6. I use this to change elements of a scene. You can get similar effects using the clone stamp, but I’ve found that the Content-Aware Move tool gives me better control in larger scenes. Check out what I did below and let me know what you think!

This is Ali, a woman who loves adventure. I met her at Gasworks Park in Seattle. It was a beautiful day and lots of people were out and about.

There’s nothing wrong with this scene, but I wanted to see what would happen with some creative editing. Using the Content-Aware Move tool in Photoshop, I removed the people and filled in the sky and the ground.

Here’s the final image with the ground cropped out to focus on the subject of the picture.

You can access the Content-Aware Move tool through the icon with the intertwined arrows. The Adapation settings from Very Strict to Very Loose will give you different results.

As always, I’m interested in what you think. Let me know which of these photos you like best by commenting or taking the poll. Thanks, and have a creative day!

Ever want to change the color of something in a photograph? This is a Photoshop project that I did some time ago during a plane ride. Changing the color required 4 steps in 3 different layers in Photoshop.

Cut out the flower from the background and put it in a second layer.

Make the first layer black and white.

Cut out the center of the flower from second layer, put that in the third layer. Keep that as yellow.

Go back to the second layer, play with the hue bar in Image > Saturation.

Here’s the original image, which was taken with an iPhone 4S. I think either one of the edited pics is more interesting than this one. What do you think?

This is a picture I edited a few months ago. I really like the minimalist composition and the crisp contrast between the black and white. I used the Snapseed app to achieve this effect, but this could be done easily on Photoshop and other editing tools too.

The original picture was in color and taken with an iPhone 4S. It was around sunset time, and it was one of those glorious days with no clouds in the sky. Problem is, since there were no clouds, there was no texture in the sky, and the overall picture looked kind of bland.

I also tried boosting the saturation to really bring out the sunset colors, but I think the black and white version turned out better. My friends on Instagram seem to agree. What do you think?

Since my last post on combining two images in Photoshop, I’ve been using more advanced techniques in compositing and masking. This time, I added a subject to a new environment to create a very interesting scene. The final picture became popular on 500px within the first half hour.

First, I had this picture, which I took at a fashion show in January. The model and dress were beautiful, but the background was so blah that the picture as a whole didn’t work.

I decided to add the model to a new environment. I looked in my files for a good picture, and came upon this shot, which I took in Sayulita, Mexico during a vacation last December.

I used the same compositing techniques in Photoshop that I outlined in my last post to combine the two pictures. This was the first result:

Pretty cool, heh? I was pleased with how the beach scene was made even more interesting with the woman walking along the shore. However, I felt like the masking and compositing looked a bit obvious. The light on the beach was coming from the front, but the woman was being illuminated from the back. What to do?

I decided to try masking the woman more to make the overall scene more realistic looking. Parts of her became transparent, but this would subdue the light coming from her back.

Mask further to make parts of subject transparent

Ta-da! Here’s the final result. I thought this looked a lot more natural. But could it fool the experts? I decided to put it up on my profile on 500px, which I consider to be the ultimate test in photography. I was very happy to see that the picture scored a 93 and hit the popular section within the first half hour. Yay!

Today, I learned a neat technique of combining two images in Photoshop to improve the overall picture. I’ve practiced this technique four times already today, and it’s great fun.

First, I had this picture of my friend Kiana. I think her face looks very pretty, but I was curious to see if I could combine this with another picture.

I liked her long legs and boots in this pose, but I didn’t think her facial expression worked as well. Because of the differences in size and angles of the two photos, I knew it would be a challenge to make the composite look natural. But with a little patience, I saw how Photoshop can make pretty much anything possible.

Ta-da! Here’s the result:

I’m excited to start using this technique for more advanced composites and make some truly stunning images.

Here are the instructions to combine two photographs.

Put the pictures in two separate layers.

Make the top layer transparent and move it to lay on top of the second image as desired.

You can try using Edit > Auto-align to align the two pics. (In the above example, I couldn’t use auto-align, and actually had to rotate the second image so that the position of the head would look natural.)

Add layer mask on the top layer.

Choose the paint brush. Choose black for color. Adjust hardness to 0 on the brush.

Use the brush on the mask.

The new face should appear as if by magic.

If you find that you’re masking too much, switch the brush color to white and go over the parts of the mask you want to adjust.

Try changing the brush size and hardness to 100 to fine-tune the image.

For an additional effect, put a levels layer at top and adjust colors.

I create stories, pictures, and websites. My career has spanned from old media (published in The New York Times) to new media (Instagram addict). When I'm not at my desk, you might find me hula-hooping or riding my bicycle. ›More